Review Summary

Committed genre fans endure enormous amounts of recycled garbage in hopes of seeing something, anything, new. Even the most forgiving have their limits, though, and this week’s multiplex terminus can be found in the noisy nonsense known as “R.I.P.D.” Based on “Rest in Peace Department,” a Dark Horse comic created by Peter M. Lenkov, the movie has the kind of clever-enough premise that could be easily pitched at a 60-second meeting: a heavenly police force hunts dead villains and sends them to hell. Written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, the movie was directed by Robert Schwentke, who made a promising thriller (“Flightplan”) a few years back. A barely expressive Ryan Reynolds has the role of Nick Walker, a Boston cop, who after being shot down by his partner (Kevin Bacon), ends up slinging guns for the R.I.P.D. Nick is brought up to speed on the department’s doings by Mary-Louise Parker, who’s carving out a curious action niche playing anti-Barbie romantic foils. She’s paired with Bruce Willis in “Red” and “Red 2,” and here she matches (half) wits with Jeff Bridges playing Roy Pulsifer, a 19th-century lawman who wears a duster to go with his Buffalo Bill goatee and silky mane. Mr. Bridges is almost always fun to watch, but even his squinting and Slim Pickens-style whooping can’t make the time pass faster.
— Manohla Dargis